Writing to know what I think.

Is Lulu.com a scam?

I was surprised when I noticed the above question popping up in my internet search results recently, and I wondered if people were talking about some other Lulu.com to the one I’ve been using. But no, it’s the same one, and it seems there’s a problem – not with Lulu.com, but I think with the unrealistic expectations of some very naive writers, with dreams of stardom.

I’ve now got six books on their server( see note 1), and I’ve never had any problems, either with the website or with the quality of the books they’ve delivered. Of the half-dozen proof copies of my own books I’ve purchased, the quality has always been top notch, both in paper-back and hardback – the equal of any conventionally published book. As for the cover design, what you see on-screen is pretty much what you get. You follow the template, upload your design at a decent resolution and the quality of reproduction has always been spot on. Perhaps I’m one of the lucky ones, I don’t know – I can only speak from my own experience – but everything Lulu promised me it could deliver, it has done so, consistently, many times.

So, is Lulu a scam? No. It’s exactly what it says it is: a print on demand publisher. This is a new era. You need to forget the old way of doing things.

Some of the comments I’ve read are regarding late payment of royalties, and if that’s true then, okay, there’s a problem there that needs sorting out. I can’t offer anything on that debate because I’ve set my royalties to zero and am consequently not making any money from my books at all. To be frank, I’d rather shift copies than optimistically charge the earth for them and have them sitting there doing nothing. This means the e-book versions cost nothing, while the print copies are the cheapest they can possibly be, and every penny paid by my customers goes to the printer. I’ve managed to “sell” about 40 print copies to complete strangers, even one book of poetry, which was the last thing I was expecting, while my free downloads are currently in the region of about 8000 all told.

Perhaps I’m odd, but I’m actually very happy with this. Perhaps my expectations are pessimistically low, but I’ve been writing stories and sending them to commercial publishers for thirty years now and I don’t think they are.

Writing is a hobby for me. The odds of making it big as a writer are actually rather small and most of us just labour on in obscurity. We have to grow up and be accepting of this. My novels are never going to top the best seller list. Commercial publishers won’t look twice at my stuff because I’m an unknown scribbler, possibly crap, and unlikely to make them much money.

Lulu is a print on demand publisher. They’re different. They are not in the business of making you rich and famous. They will take anything – even if it’s a load of gibberish – and “publish” it for you. What they make out of it is what you pay them for your own copy of the book – there’s no obligation for you to buy it, but I think most writers will want to. Any more copies you sell to strangers is a bonus for them. If they can sell you an ISBN number, a marketing package and a listing on Amazon, then fine, it’s not expensive, but you’re straying a little deeper into vanity publishing territory there, and you really shouldn’t expect miracles. Now, multiply all of this by the million writers who have used Lulu, and you get an idea of their business model. It works for them. It works for us. But it’s not a scam.

If you want to be rich and famous, then study the market, as they say, write your novel, send it off to a big name publisher and good luck to you. The writers who follow this route and make it are the one’s who can still keep their heads together when their manuscript has been returned for the fifteenth time unread, and so many years have passed they can barely remember what their own story is about any more. I’m not one of them. I admit I can’t handle it. It depresses me. It takes my love of writing and turns it into a three-by-two that others can use to hit me with.

I’m done with that. I didn’t want to waste my whole life negotiating the literary path to published authordom, finally to drop dead and with not a single person in the world having ever read a story by Michael Graeme. So b&**cks to it! I’ve got a day job to pay the bills, and I’m currently writing like there’s no tomorrow. I’m also thoroughly enjoying it. That’s entirely thanks to Lulu.com and other free to upload sites like Feedbooks.

Use them wisely, and be under no illusions. If you want your writing to make you rich and famous, then okay, Lulu is probably not for you. If you want your story to be read by people all over the world, tomorrow, then go for it. You’ve really nothing to lose.

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Note(1)

This piece is becoming rather dated now (2009) but it’s still a popular read and reading it through again I realise it’s mostly still relevant, so I’ve left it unchanged for writers who might be searching for answers to the question it poses. In 2014, the only thing I would add is that from the writer’s point of view things have moved on considerably in the DIY self-publishing world, and in my opinion paper books are looking a bit old fashioned – harking back to the olden days of print publishing and what it means to be a proper “published” writer. I no longer have any books on Lulu’s server, and have moved them all to the likes of Feedbooks and Smashwords, where the download rates are better. I no longer think of paper when I write.

Certainly for the unknown, independent author, I think ebooks are the best and most progressive option, offering you the potential of delivering your work to everyone’s pocket via their smartphones. There’s still no money in it, but if it’s readers you’re after that’s where you’ll find them for now. Is Lulu a scam? No, it’s still a print on demand publisher offering some paid “author services”. It’s up to you, the writer, to understand exactly what that means before you fall into the trap of nurturing unrealistic expectations about what they’re capable of delivering.

Excellent summary! I have used Lulu twice, most recently to help my wife publish her childhood memories growing up Italian-American primarily as Christmas presents to friends and relatives here and also in Italy.

I have been very satisfied with lulu.com. The deliver as promised and ship bulk copies of high quality very quickly at a fair price.

Sir, After all the negative press re Lulu.com, I just had to say I agree with you. I have five book with Lulu.com and one was on a best seller list last year, another has been translated for the Indian market and I am about to download a further three books. I am delighted with their service and, frankly, if a writer is prepared to do some of the work, they may not set the reading world alight or make a fortune, but it can be enormous fun. I say to all these complaining people stop wingeing and don’t forget you are not likely to be another JK Rowling or Dan Brown

Margaret, many thanks for the comment – and very well put. Writing’s a deeply satisfying pastime and it’s a pity that for so long trying to get published the normal way used to spoil it completely. Lulu’s certainly put the sparkle back in for me.

I am curious to the effort you place in your books with Lulu? I do not mean that as a negative or a knock on your creative work. I am more concerned about editors? rewrites? etc, etc. Since you are self publishing do you think that makes your work a little more lazy than if you sent your book multiple times to a publisher? Please don’t take this post as a knock. I am just curious to learn more info and I have to ask the tough questions to get the response I desire. I am considering using Lulu myself and would like to learn more before diving into lulu.

I’ve no experience of being published by a publishing house, so I’m not sure what an editor brings to the table. ( no offence to editors ) Having an editorial team go through your work will obviously spot the errors that elude you, even after multiple re-drafts, and and editor’s skill, experience and brutal honesty means they can take a red pen to those sections of the story you can leave out, in order to tighten the narrative up – cull loose ends or useless digressions – that sort of thing. In self publishing all of this falls to you, so rather than making you lazy, I think it sharpens you up and makes you take full responsibility. Whether you make a mess of it or not is another matter. You’re relying entirely on yourself. It helps if you’re a control freak, but I don’t think having a lazy approach to your work is going to impress anyone – be it a commissioning editor or an online reader. My attitude is that if you want a reader to come back to read more of your stuff, you have to be sincere in what you do, and put the work in.

All of my novels take years to write, with countless redrafts (which I take great pleasure in) until I’m happy with the story and it feels “finished” to an extent that I’d be gutted if an editor wanted to meddle with it anyway (I know that sounds conceited). The stories I put up on Lulu then are, I hope, in as good a state as anything I would consider sending to an editor. If you’re dealing with your readers directly this way, it’s as well to be aware you stand and fall on your own efforts. Having said that I’m sure my stories are riddled with elusive typos, which I hope my readers will forgive.

My novels may still be rubbish, because without direct feedback I’ve no way of knowing. Push Hands was recently highly praised by a reader, and that was very encouraging – but basically it’s all you have to go on. My shorter works, on Feedbooks, have a wider distribution and they attract more comment, mostly positive, which is also encouraging – so I kind of assume my novels aren’t going to be that far from the mark – but I may be completely wrong.

I self-publish my novels because I couldn’t get the early ones published, no matter how many times I sent them out. The later ones I sort of assumed I was wasting my time, and self published them directly. Synopses of the Singing Loch went out about fifteen times and came back without any indication that they’d even been read, let alone liked or disliked. The Road from Langholm avenue was similar. Obviously this may be because the stories have no merit, or it could just be that it’s very hard, and you need to be very lucky to get published. So, you either take a risk in deciding to believe in your own work and you stick it up on Lulu, or you give upon it. You know you’re never going to make any money from doing this, but you also know your story will at least be read, which is infinitely better than sticking it in a file drawer and forgetting about it.

I was happy to use Lulu because it doesn’t cost anything to set up. I would never be tempted by the so called Vanity press or any other outfit asking you for money, by the way, because they’re just after your money, and they look upon struggling authors more as vulnerable prey.

If you’re considering Lulu, you should perhaps ask yourself how long you’ve been writing and what your ambitions are. Don’t let an old cynic like me put you off. If you’ve yet to explore the traditional publishing route then it’s worth giving it a go first. You never know – you may score with the first try and then you’ll wonder why you ever considered self publishing in the first place. If however, you start to struggle, and especially if you get to the point where you wonder why you bothered, then rather than give up on your project, maybe then’s the time to think of Lulu.

Like I said in the blog. Lulu’s not in the business of making you rich. They really will publish anything, but from my experience they’re very open and honest about what they do, and it’s not a scam.

I hope this answers your questions. Do come back to me by all means, here, or mail me.

Dear Mr. Graeme,
I just finished reading your blog and it was very encouraging. I am a writer(unpublished) and poet. I have three finished and two unfinished manuscripts that I have yet to submit anywwhere for publication. Someone recommended lulu.com and so here I am. Will they really publish anything? My novels are all in the genre of Historical Romance. I know that is a tough market, for traditional publishing, and so I have hesitated for years. I would appreciate any feedback or advice…start with lulu or go the traditional route? Anyway, hope to hear back from you, at your convenience. Thanks for “listening”.

Yes, Lulu will publish anything. It’s perhaps best to think of them more as an online printer than a publishing house. There are no editors, no one vetting your manuscript (or correcting your errors). You basically do all the work, upload your manuscript as a PDF file, and it sits there on Lulu’s website for people to either download as an e-book, or to order a printed copy.You just sign up, then follow the online instructions which are fairly straight forward. It’s completely free and the whole process can take as little as half an hour once you’ve got everything together that you need. (I’m beginning to sound like a Lulu.com salesman here).

However,….

There’s no one marketing your book unless you pay Lulu for a marketing package, and without this I suppose it’s a matter of luck who’s going to stumble upon your story. Historical Romance is always going to be popular though, and I think you can be sure people will find it in their searches and download it. Obviously if you give your stories away like I do, you’ll achieve a greater download rate than if you charge. I’ve got a romantic novel called Push Hands on Lulu and if that’s anything to go by you can expect a few hundred downloads per month.

Anyway, Lulu v traditional route?…

You say you’ve already got three finished manuscripts, but haven’t submitted them anywhere? If it’s a shot at published authordom that attracts you – a bit of money, book signings, seeing your novels in the highstreet bookshops and all that, then it’s obviously worth trying the traditional route first. I don’t mean to knock this route – it’s just that I’ve had no luck with it, but don’t let my experience put you off trying.

I suspect you already appreciate how hard a hard thing it is to go down the conventional route. Personally, I found the business of seeking publication harder than actually writing. My first novels did the usual rounds, but I came to the conclusion they were unpublishable, so I’d nothing to lose by trying Lulu. I’d hesitate to recommend this as a first choice to other writers though, who might easily be much better than I am and therefore stand a chance of attracting a publisher who’s willing to pay. Having said that, it can take you years to get absolutely nowhere – but you can always come back to Lulu if you get fed up with the process.

Besides Lulu, Feedbooks is another route you could consider – they just deal with e-books (no print copies) and there’s no option to charge for your work. My download rates on Feedbooks are much greater than on Lulu, and the stories tend to attract more direct feedback from readers. Another one I’ve not investigated properly yet is Smashwords – similar to Feedbooks, but they allow you to charge. All of these are good options for a writer, and they’ll become more popular with readers as time passes.

I’ve learned quite a bit from reading your blog post (even though it’s not recent) and the comments. I’ve published a book, The Landlord Chronicles, through Authorhouse and it was a very good experience, but I’m co-authoring on another book with a guy who suggested Lulu. We’re putting this out as an e-book only, but we’d want it available through Amazon as well.
So, is there a cost we’d pay to Lulu for this service?

Thank you for such a well thought out article. I too was surprised by the slew of ‘Lulu/scam’ articles I read before finding yours. My sister uses Lulu and actually makes a little bit of money at it. It’s hardly been enough for her to quit her day job, but it has certainly been encouraging (to both of us, I’m a writer, too.)

Thank you for this bloog. I’ve always gone the submit to publisher route, and actually had a book of short stories published in the small press. I was very excited to get my first copy of the book. Unfortunatly my editor, who has had some success writing feminist romance novels, decided to rewrite all my stories (action/adventur/mystery) in the style of romances. It doesn’t work! As a consequence I was unable to promote the book, and finally got the project assigned back to me. I am currently consdiering haveing this book, and several other short story projects, published by Lulu. I was somewhat concerned by the negitive feedback of some people who have worked with Lulu. However, your experience is what I expect. I am publishing these stories so my family and friends can read what I have been writing the last 30 years, not to challange Steven King in sales. Thanks again.

Sorry to hear about your problems with your print publisher, Gerald. You did well to attract one, but I can appreciate how frustrating that experience must have been for you in the end. With Lulu you can at least maintain the integrity of your work! I’ve always been impressed by the printed copies they supply, and they’d make great gifts for your family. My advice would be to order an initital one-off for yourself – just to check it’s all to your liking, and make any changes you want, before ordering multiples.

You say your work is a collection of short stories? It might also be worth checking out Feedbooks which is purely an e-book distributer. They’re very easy to use and free, like Lulu. I’ve been loading a lot of my short fiction on there (though I do have a collection on Lulu). It’s quite a lively scene at the moment and you can guarantee an international distribution on mobile reading platforms like ‘phones and ipods and ipads and Kindles and such. You won’t make any money out of it, but a lot of people will be able to read the stuff you’ve worked so hard on.

Thank you for writing honestly about your experiences with publishing. Like you, I would rather just write and not be encumbered with any commercial aspects of the craft. However, even my staunchest supporters are beginning to lose faith in my approach as nearly three years of essay writing on my blog has not netted any income or garnered any interest from traditional publishers as I once promised it would. As you pointed out, this is the most difficult time in history to break into the writing business, so the writer with money on his or her mind should explore as many options and try as many keys as possible to getting the word(s) out. Having been an owner and partner in retail and service companies, I’ve developed radar for detecting scams and con artists. It’s great to read some realistic thoughts here about a writer’s prospects for generating income. I’m subscribing to your posts as I’m hoping you will address more writing pitfalls as well as triumphs. I’d like to add your site to my bloglist and get a conversation going with my readers, most of whom I know would love to be thriving-rather-starving artists.

A very nice and informative post. My friend in the UK wrote a cute dragon story for her family. I did the artwork and cover. Quite a feat since I live in the US. We used Lulu.com, and I did the uploading, etc. When I received my copy of the paperback, I was so pleased at the quality. The colored cover was stunning!! Matched my test print-outs perfectly. I had absolutely no complaints and they offer many services f one wishes to spend the money.

It’s nice to have dreams and try to achieve them, but we sometimes forget the hard work that is involved. They say ‘do what you love and the money will follow’! Well, I haven’t seen any money, but at least I’m having a good time with my dragon art.

I can say that my experience with Lulu wasn’t that great. True getting published by a mainstream publisher is preferably, but extremel difficult to break into unless you already have a national following. Paris Hilton could get a major deal writing about nothing and a talented writer toiling in anonymity would never have a chance. As publishing houses have told me, “Who cares what you think? You’re not famous.”

Lulu might be ok — if you’re satisfied working with a template. You follow the steps and get your book published. However, during the process, Lulu sneaks in other fees. If things go wrong, you can’t talk to a supervisor or reach anyone by phone. Their chat box help is abysmal. Essentially the staff disappears and you are left high and dry. From a Customer Service aspect, this service is a nightmare.

However, if you have no to low expectations, then endless delays won’t be a problem and you probably won’t care about producing a manuscript that is in mint condition and so Lulu wouldn’t be able to bait you into fees…You wouldn’t care if Lulu makes mistakes in formatting or whatever as you just want your book out there, even in imperfect form. Ask Lulu to correct its errors and they require more money.

Non payment of royalties is a serious issue. There is no transparency at Lulu. No way to log your sales or to find it they are logging their sales honestly. (People have reported buying their own book from Lulu and observing that Lulu will not register the sale.) So, if Lulu is pocketing ALL the change in at least some cases, without paying royalties, then this is not an honest or reputable company. Remember people are consistent. If hey are honest in small ways they will be in other ways too. IF they steal a penny, you can be sure they will steal more, given the chance.

Plus, you have a 30 day money back guarantee after purchasing products — after that point you are stuck. Imagine that if it takes Lulu 45 days for one leg of the process…and they screw up royallying during that period, you are stuck with having to pay that fee and then fees for services after that whether you want to continue with Lulu or not. In fact, in my case after the 30 days were up, Lulu stopped just as it was on the cusp of perfecting my manuscript, made a glaring error, and then demanded more money to fix an error they had created. Want your money back? Too late. You are now beyond your grace period! Want to talk to a supervisor to resolve this issue? None are available by phone. They will never get back to you. You will have to wait forever…and in the meantime, months will go by while you are waiting..so your only choice is to walk away and to allow Lulu to keep all of the money or to pay more and allow Lulu to continue. Bait and switch tactics like this are commonplace at Lulu — especially if they know you really want it to be perfect and are under deadline..If you are just an author who doesn’t care about sales and just wants the book out there in imperfect form, Lulu can just go through the motions — and you get what you pay for….

Lulu is also more expensive than the competition.

In my case, I started out well and really loved my first contact. He was friendly, fast, and efficient. Once he left the project, someone else came on board. Was he ever incompetent. You never get to see these people or know the person behind the names, nor can you call them. They just email you your deliverables — so the process is pretty seamless. The moment something goes wrong, they disappear or you are confronted with an incompetent, lazy, or dishonest contact. Then what do you do?

This is a company with no phone service. Their is no customer service at all. You just have to talk to a text box in which someone tells you in a cheery manner that your issue has been referred to someone who will get back to you, only they never do. And you can’t follow up with anyone. You just have to wait. And of course, Lulu never follows up to resolve issues. You either submit to whatever they want — or…well, there is no second option, beyond walking away.

Customer service is horrible.

However, if you have really low expectations and just want to be published, Lulu is the place for you.

Jayne, I’m sorry to hear about the problems you’ve had. It sounds like you’ve had a really bad ride there. I basically give my books away so I’ve never bothered about royalties – never explored that angle at all. I’ve never used Lulu’s paid services either, preferring to wing it on my own – I know I give my stuff away, but I draw the line at having to pay to give it away. I’ve submitted all my work to them in PDF format which seems to grant infinite flexibility, and I enjoyed doing my own artwork for the covers.

I really took your comment to heart. Did a publisher actually say that to you? “Who cares what you think? You’re not famous.” That’s terrible! Also revealing in a sad kind of way. Whoever said that’s dragging some heavy Karma around. Really bad and very rude.Well, who cares what they think? All they know about, obviously, is money, which equates to nothing at the end of the day. If you have to go underground to get your voice heard, then so be it – you’ll meet a better class of reader there.

I guess it’s impossible to know if someone will actually care about what you say or not. You need to be given the chance for others to read your stuff first, and as we’ve both found, conventional publishing’s very difficult to break into. But on the other hand, having given all my stuff away, people have written to me and said that this or that story touched them, which is the best way of knowing you’re on the right lines, so getting the story out there is the important thing for me.

Twenty years ago you could still find a really interesting book that had been published by a complete unknown, someone who just wanted to write about their interest, or publish their story in a quiet kind of way, without wanting to be a name or a face on the back of it, but sadly those days are gone. The face, the name, is everything now. But on the up side, the more intelligent reader knows that just because you’re famous it doesn’t mean what you have to say is worth listening to – indeed often the opposite. I think readers like that are turning to the internet to see what “real” people have to say. They’re reading blogs and self-published stuff. It’s where the action is. It may be a little raw, and the grammar sometimes a little suspect, and maybe half of it isn’t worth the electrons it’s written with, but at least it’s real, and the reader gets to vote on it with their comments.

Anyhow, like my piece suggests, for me Lulu was a positive experience on the whole, though lately I’ve begun to view paper publishing, even POD as a bit old-hat, and I’m discovering a bigger readership though Feedbooks.

In general, the thing with Lulu is that everything is free if you do all the work – editing, proofreading etc. Lulu will do this for you, but they’ll charge, obviously. Then you need a distribution package – all of that may come up to somewhere near what Authorhouse will charge you.

Michael,
I like that: an “Indie writer”. I have been satisfied with Lulu.com and have been recommending it to people as a place to finally publish the book they’ve always dreamed of writing. I recently checked out a place where I could go “beyond self-publishing” for $30,000. Yikes!

And yes you are a little odd setting royalties to zero.
But then again royalties from Lulu’s system aren’t worth having anyway are they.
For your information Mr Right – many many authors, published and unpublished – are becoming aware of Lulu’s terrible service, hidden deceptive costs and very poor selling power.
I send to you a prophecy – it won’t be long before this bunch of make it rich quick con people are taken to court.

You mediate your message very well and are almost convincing but the only people making good money out of good authors are Lulu – not the authors.

If you believe a morality stance of – ‘writing is not for the money’, backed up by an experienced (?) rhetoric of – ‘authors are living in dreamland;’ – can disguise Lulu’s obvious financial exploitation of untapped talent then you need to start sticking up for authors.

I tell you this:
Selling many books isn’t just about the income – it’s about knowing you have written something worth reading – and Lulu couldn’t sell J.R.R Tolkein to more than 100 readers. This would net Mr Tolkein roughly £200 for a life-times work which would then vanish into the blue yonder.
And that my friend would be a travesty in the world of literature.

Mr Right, please do not vanish like Lulu authors and please reply to tell me how many Lulu published titles are for sale in Waterstones, Tescos etc.

Oh yes yes I know – only the established publishing houses can market such authors. But! Unless you drink in the same bar as the executives of these places or swell from the same blood line your urinating into the wind.
So why don’t Lulu market their product as books to give to your family members?

So what’s the answer?

How about sticking up for authors and admitting that Lulu have either bitten off more than they can chew and jumped the stalls too early or are simply laughing all the way to the Leeds at our expense.

My initials are G.A.
You will remember them.
This is No Word Of Warning.

How much did they pay me? It’s a long time since anyone paid me to write anything, but thanks for the thinly veiled aspersion. Nor am I “Mr Right” thank you very much. The comments on this piece paint a varied picture of people’s opinions on Lulu’s service or lack thereof, and yours is now one of them so thanks for contributing to the debate.

My words are my sincere opinion, nothing more, based on my own experience, which has been good. Judging by the amount of spleen you’ve vented here, I’m guessing you’ve been let down by Lulu and I’m truly sorry if that’s the case. In spite of the vitriol, you make a number of valid points and I’ll try to give you my considered take on them if I may.

(1) I don’t think I said that “writing is not for money”. If you want to make money out of writing then good luck to you, but you need a big name publisher behind you – Lulu won’t do it for you and I’d never expect it of them. That’s unrealistic. They’re print on demand. Are they really promising to make you the next Dan Brown? I’ve never read their blurb that way.

(2) “Unless you drink in the same bar as the executives of these places or swell from the same blood line your urinating into the wind.”

Perhaps you’re right, but I’d be far too diplomatic to suggest that in a public forum. Regarding the big publisher route – I walked that road for decades as a young man because I wanted to be a big name author and quit the day-job. It got me nowhere, and it made me a miserable old cynic. It was my choice to abandon it, and I’m glad I did.

(3) “Selling many books isn’t just about the income – it’s about knowing you have written something worth reading – and Lulu couldn’t sell J.R.R Tolkein to more than 100 readers.”

I agree totaly. But what if those bar-fly execs refuse to be schmoozed? Do you give up writing? Or do you carry on and give your work away online? If it’s really worth reading, is it not better where someone can read it – ie online – rather than gathering dust in a drawer where no one will ever see it?

And yes if Tolkein had tried Lulu he wouldn’t have reached 100 readers, that is if he’d tried to charge for his work as an unknown writer. Why? Because his books on Lulu would have been more expensive than the books of big name authors being massively discounted in Tescos. But he’d’ve reached a lot more readers if he’d given his books away as free downloads. He wouldn’t have made anything out of it, but then neither would Lulu.

(4) “How about sticking up for authors and admitting that Lulu have either bitten off more than they can chew and jumped the stalls too early or are simply laughing all the way to the Leeds at our expense.”

If there’s as much dissatisfaction as you say, then your prophesy will come true and Lulu will fold, but to be honest opinion here is tending more towards the positive – though if you’ve had a bad experience I know that’s of no comfort.

As for sticking up for authors – I rather thought I was, by showing them there is another way, that they can reach a wide audience if they’re no longered bothered about the money. And on the subject of money, my advice to authors – and I thought all writers knew this anyway but here goes: you should never pay money to anyone in order to have your work published/printed/distributed or whatever. That’s vanity publishing, and it’s a slippery slope, leading only to your disappointment and the lining of someone else’s pockets. It was Mark Twain who said: Write without pay until someone offers to pay.

(5) “My initials are G.A. You will remember them. This is No Word Of Warning.”

I respect the opinion expressed in this column BUT I’ve done business with Lulu.com for several years now and can honestly say, I made a terrible mistake selecting them as my print partner. What you may not understand is that Lulu is actually a “shell” of a company that uses another printer company — my guess would be Lightning Source — to publish your book. Lulu is simply a middleman company that takes your money, plain and simple, and pays another company to print your book. So is it a scam? Not really, but if you are going to go to the effort to self publish a book, you would do a lot better to explore other options and locate a print company that actually IS a print company! Lightning Source is one. Another is Createspace.com, which has been mentioned on this board. Either one has just as easy-to-use an interface as Lulu (Createspace probably has an edge there over LS) and the quality is as good or better, but wow the profit margin is a LOT better. So is the customer service, especially the Createspace service which even includes phone support. (BTW, there are other myriad issues with Lulu that make it a bad choice. While the publishing side of their website works fine, we’ve had all sorts of issues with Lulu’s shopping cart, which tends to freeze up, not load, and has all sorts of frustrations on all sorts of web browsers). Anyway my advice to anyone considering self-publishing, chose Lulu as your last resort. And if you have titles on Lulu at present, consider moving them over to Createspace. Why not, it’s free and you’ll be far happier.

Thanks for this Doug. I do remember some browser issues in the past with Lulu and IE. I switched to Firefox and things were okay. I must admit I thought Lulu did their own printing, so that’s news to me.

I wasn’t aware of Lightning Source, so thanks for that. I’ve been looking at Createspace myself recently and I agree, I’d recommend any self-publishers out there to check it out. Of course Createspace is also a good way to get yourself onto the Kindle, though from what I understand there’s as yet no option to offer your work for free.

To be honest though, as an indy, writing fiction, I’m beginning to view paper publishing as as bit dated now anyway. E readers have come on a lot this past 12 months, and seem to be the way to go,.. at least for me. For getting stuff out there, and reaching a large audience Feedbooks is currently my first choice.

Hello Michael,
I too have published thru lulu and I too make no attempt to make money with my books. I am 73 years old so computers are something I can barely use. My latest book “Womanhood Is Holy”
is published but needs touch up which is beyond my abilities to do on line. Do you or does anyone have any suggestions on how to find someone who could do that ? Naturally, I am willing to pay but could not afford paying more than say $10 per hour. Would be grateful for any suggestions.
Best wishes,
Greg

Great post sir. Forgive me if you’ve already answered this. I have a 200 page, somewhat controversial political book. Do you think Lulu.com would publish something controversial and political? Also, in the phone book, all I see under book publishers is Dorrance Publishing. I have heard that is a vanity press, and not what I need. Any advice regarding Dorrance? Also, do you have any advice to first time authors on where to get “old-school” published. I don’t expect to be Stephanie Meyer or Steven King, but I truly believe my book is worth say, $10 a book, with the author getting $5 a book. I want very much to be a published, paid author, but realistically so. And do traditional publishers accept a book in an email? I simply don’t have the income to print it out, send it by mail, etc. Again, forgive me if you’ve already answered this, and thank you for your time sir.

Hello Khan,
Thanks for dropping by. Yes Lulu will publish it. It doesn’t matter if it’s controversial or political because they won’t read it. It’s best to think of them, as a printing service. You do the work, purchase the copies you want and you’re in print. I don’t know much about Dorrance but a quick look around the internet suggests they are indeed a vanity publisher, so you’ll be paying them at some point and you need to be careful you understand just how much, and what you’ll be getting in return before you sign anything. Their blurb suggests they’ve been around a long time, but like other vanity presses they don’t seem to be up front about their costs. Vanity presses will usually insist on a minimum print run, say several thousand books, which you pay for and then have to try to sell to friends, family, colleagues, or through car boot sales yourself. With print on demand there’s no minimum. You can buy a single copy if you want. My advice to any writer is to avoid publishers asking for money. It’s tempting I know. You’ve worked hard and produced a piece of work that you believe in strongly and you want the world to read it, but that makes you vulnerable to those “publisher seeks manuscript” ads. Please be careful.

With old school publishing I’m afraid your only choice is to approach it in the old school way, with a lot of patience. The consensus these days seems to be to secure yourself an agent – see my post on traditional publishing here https://michaelgraeme.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/ficiton-traditional-publishing-and-the-wannabe-writer/
but that’s not easy, and your book sounds quite specialised which won’t help either I’m afraid. As for publishers accepting manuscripts via email, you’d need to check their submissions policy to be sure, but my guess is they’d simply delete it – sorry not to be more hopeful.

If it’s paper copies you’re after then I think print on demand is your best option – I’ve had a good experience with Lulu, though Dr Doug who commented here recently didn’t and suggests Lightning Source or Createspace are better, so check them out too. You could also consider going purely electronic, say through Smashwords, who allow you to set a price per download, but you’ll need to find to find a way of promoting your work becasue otherwise I’ve found their download rates are quite poor. Either way there’s not a lot of money in it, but these online options do give you a voice. And with indy publishing online it seems the less you charge the bigger the voice, which is why I give my stuff away.

Thank you sir. I will definitely check out those other sites. I don’t know if my book is too specialized, I don’t want to compare myself to Al Franken or Michael Moore, but that’s the closest possible thing to compare it too. Those books seem to sell well to a certain audience. Political humor? I think I will send a portion of my book, and see if it generates a following, and then perhaps try to sell it to a larger, more traditional publisher. This may sound obvious, but do I own the rights to the book? Is the term copywrited, trademarked, registered, or intellectual property? I am very new to this, and don’t have a very good mind for business, hence why I’m a bit cautious. And since my book is a bit controversial, I would elect to use a pen name, at least at first. And I got a 2007 Writer’s Market from the library, is that a good place to find a traditional publisher? Again, my apologies if you’ve already answered this. Thank you very much for your kind and intelligent response. Am I asking questions Lulu itself anwers on it’s home page? Thank you sir.

Anything you self publish on Lulu or any other print on demand service remains yours – if in doubt say so up front “copyright,.. et,… etc.” and there’s no problem with a pen name – Michael Graeme isn’t my real name either, but in using a pen name it becomes like a brand – you’re selling the name as much as the work and the one reflects the other. If you choose a pen name you’ll probably find yourself sticking to it for future work unless you drastically change genre and wish to be known for something else. I think the rule here in the UK is you can call yourself what you like so long as it isn’t for fraudulent purposes.

The Writer’s Market book you mention is like our Writer’s and Artist’s yearbook here. It’s the best place to glean info on likely agents or publishers, and their submissions policies, but I’d be a bit wary of using a 2007 version. Things move so fast, you need the most up to date copy you can find. They’re expensive to buy and they date so quickly – but I’m surprised your library hasn’t a more up to date copy? Maybe you could challenge the librarian? You also need to wary of vanity publishers hiding among the listings, and be sure to avoid any who ask you for money up front for anything.

I’m sure your book has a market – political humour or satire is very popular here, like a safety valve. I’m sorry to say I don’t know Al Franken, but I’ll look him up. Michael Moore is very popular in the UK, and I own several of his books.

Please don’t be put off by my experience with commerical publishing. If you’re inclined to go for it, then go for it. Plenty of writers find their way, but if you get knocked back, at least print on demand sites like Lulu or Createspace do give you a viable alternative to voicing your opinions.

Thank you sir. Sorry for the slow response. I will definitely take your advice. Is it bad form to have your book published on a free site like Lulu, and then try to get that published traditionally later, with a note showing you have 50,000 downloads as proof of interest? I live in a small town, 2007 WM, but I think I can find most up to date information on the internet.

I think I will pursue the traditional way first, with my grade A stuff, and my post some of my grade B or C material on Lulu. I really should read the actual site more. Do they “publish” blogs and things like that? I’m not a teenager, so it won’t be about typical teenage angst, I imagine the market is flooded with material like that.

I suppose the actual publishers website would have more information as well, once I narrow it down with the outdated 07 Writer’s Market. As always, thank you for your time, and intelligent response sir. It is most appreciated. Also, I have no idea when to paragraph, I apologize. I suppose my book would be labeled political satire/humor. Thank you again sir.

Hi Michael – you have a great site. I have one “Project” that I have published on Lulu.com. By the way, this website is very informative, a very good forum. My project was an autobiography about my first 20 years of life and growing up in Maine. It was inspired by my grandkids that are growing up in North Carolina while grandma and I are living here in Maine.
After a three week visit over Christmas, I decided that my grandkids really didn’t know much about my youth. At their ages, mostly pre-teen, listening to stories of what grandpa did as a child in the fifties and sixties is very low on their priority list. The point, when I returned home in January, I sat at the computer and started writing down some history, short stories with a bit of whimsy thrown in to keep the reader from falling asleep. The stories grew to book size and I decided the information stood a much better chance of being read and passed on to the next generation if it was in book form, i.e. Lulu.com. The end result first; the final product more than met my expectations. From a retired electronic technicians prospective that spent most of his life reading repair manuals and science orientated magazines, my standards might be less than demanding but over all, I guard my copies of the book like they are golden. I have given away about fifties copies to friends, relatives and even strangers because I think my stories are interesting and will at least make them smile if not laugh.
The process to get there was hell; at least for my wife listening to me complain about Lulu’s automated publishing wizards. Right off I figured out that Lulu is in business to fill a need and to make money. They seem to isolate themselves from their would be authors. They provide suggestions, and direction to a point and plenty of feed back from other users.
I took the least expensive route, low grade book publishing paper and the book size I wanted, 5.5 by 8.5. Michael it was a struggle for a newbe but after all was said and done, compensating for the mistakes I made along the way; I would do it all again of course avoiding all the pitfalls. I also used their cover wizard and created my own art work. I ran into a problem getting into their cover wizard. Maybe it was me but It seemed like I had to upload a junk word file then delete it just to gain access. Well that’s my story. At the end of the day, I have sold three copies, and received one review from a copy I gave away but for the most part, I am very happy with their product. If a person wants to do the work, I mean all the work from proof reading, editing and page numbering, doing it all, then they should be a happy camper when it’s done. There is a computer abbreviation “WYSIWYG”. This is Lulu publishing in a box.
I am going to wait a few years and maybe give copies to my grandkids as they graduate from high school. By that time, they should be mature enough to at least put the book in their sock draw and maybe they will find it when they finally leave the nest and take it with them. I hope this helps anyone that is considering using Lulu.com for its intended purpose; an author oriented self publishing print on demand business. Take care Michael, thanks for the forum. – Robt E from Maine…

What a great comment! I hope others are inspired by it. I’m sure your grandchildren will treasure your book in future years. I know if my grandfather had written an account of his life and thoughts, it would be kept in pride of place and passed on as a treasured heirloom. Yours is a really good example of how to use Lulu’s service.

I do remember a few puzzling quirks with Lulu’s wizards – I think it depends on the browser you’re using, but as a technical guy it sounds like you managed to make sense of it. I’m technical too (mechanical engineering) so I guess DIY is in our blood! I know I struggled with my first one, but as you said it gets easier and you learn from your mistakes.

Thank You Michael, like I said you have a wonderful forum and DYI is part of who I am. I enjoyed working through the technical problems at Lulu but my wife, not so much. Please take care from across the pond, Robt – Maine.

Hi Michael, I received your latest post on the Apple I-pad and I must say it was a very enjoyable read and also informative. I have never physically placed my hands on an I-pad or a Mac but they seem to be ever so slowly taking away a larger and larger market share from Mr. PC. On the positive, they have developed a very good reputation for handling graphics. My daughter was dating a gentleman in New Hampshire many moons ago and his dad owned a community print shop. After a short tour of his print business, he told my daughter Tricia that PC’s are nice but he would fight to the death anyone that attempted to remove the best tool he had at his disposal, his three Mac’s.
Recently, my son that lives in NC and is heavily involved in the computer industry jumped ship and bought a Mac Air to supplement his PC. He said Dad,” It is so light and dependable, emphasis on dependable”. I questioned its ability to run PC software, he said “no problem dad, I can I have two other operating systems on board”
Well enough about Mr. Apple, the thing I really wanted to comment on is the e-readers invasion into the domain of the printed page. I have considered converting my book project into e-reader format. Published at Lulu.com last July, I have resisted the move mainly for financial reasons. The cost to make the conversion started at 99 dollars, a bit hefty for my wallet. I thought that maybe making it available in that format might cause a few more unsuspecting readers to purchase my autobiography. After much thought and checking my wallet again, I reasoned that no real book should allow itself to be converted into ones and zeros. If a person can’t place it onto a bookshelf to collect dust, it’s not really a piece of literature.
Well alas, fate and the market savvy folks that own and operate Lulu.com have made my decision a no brainier. I recently received an email from Lulu.com with an offer I cannot refuse; they will make an attempt to convert my book to the E-format at no charge to me. Seems they see the writing on the wall and also a chance to enhance book sales. I will paste a portion of the email I received. They said it might take awhile to get to my work but it’s an offer I just cannot pass up. I have sense been checking my project page a bit more than once a week. Here is a portion of that email:

Dear Robert E.,

Lulu’s goal is a simple one: help you sell more books. This note is to tell you about an exciting new effort from Lulu to help achieve this goal by ensuring your work is able to reach readers across all devices, starting with the 130 million+ customers who own an iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod touch® and shop at the iBookstore℠. Over the coming weeks, at no charge to you, we’ll be making the title you have for sale on Lulu.com also available as an eBook edition on the iBookstore.

Well Michael, I thought I would share the “E-News” with you and your other readers. Sometimes my glass is half empty so I will wait to get excited until my book project page becomes reader compatable. Take care ok. Bob E. from the foot hills of Maine.

Thanks for this, Robert. Good news from Lulu! I’ve not had that mail yet, but hopefully they’ll get around to it. The only other way I’d found of getting in the iBookstore for free was through Smashwords but their formatting requirements were a bit off putting.

I just had my first novel published by Lulu, and then sat back and waited for it to “catch on”. hahahahaha It caught on, all right. My brother liked it, my good friend liked it, and if my mother was still alive, she probably would have liked it to. Other than that, it just never “caught on.” Then I thought, maybe I should spend the bucks and have it marketed, pay for some newspaper endorsements, etc. Finally, one day I came to the realization that I wrote the book because I love to write, not to make my fortune.

Your article is spot on, and expresses precisely how I feel now about what I should reasonably expect from Lulu and my own writing. I do appreciate your article.

Thanks for writing this :D I’ve heard a lot of good things about Lulu actually, it’s more CreateSpace that seem to produce many unhappy authors, and yet it’s CreateSpace that offer free hard copies to Nano writers – too good to be true? I think that’s definitely the motto here.

[…] until I did my web searches, were actually spoken of very highly by friends who have used them. WP blog about experiences with Lulu were a very positive but realistic look on what to expect from services […]

Hello Michael,
Great post, even though you seem to be playing down your writing career you sure are doing a good job marketing Lulu:) If I were Lulu management I’d take note.
I’ve a collection of poetry that I’m itching to see in print and I’m already in contact with Lulu….and I can almost guess at what you’d say…but I’d still like to hear it from you.
For your info. I’ve had really a bad experience with another POD firm (Authorhouse) after I published 2 books with them. And have been wary of going the POD route again until lately. Again, should I throw caution to the wind and publish with Lulu?
Thanks and good job with the blog.
Safi

I do sound a bit like a Lulu salesman, don’t I? It’s a while since I wrote that piece (2009) and I must admit I’ve moved away from publishing paper copies of my work now. Personally, I feel the market for independent (fiction) authors is changing fast and moving more towards the Kindle and other ebook readers. I tend to go straight to ebooks now, distributed through Feedbooks. My work is still on Lulu but I’ve not checked on it for a while – sort of lost interest in that angle. It’s nice to have a paper copy of course, but I’m finding I can reach a bigger audience through Feedbooks.

I think it depends what you want from your poems. If you want them nicely bound for your own satisfaction, or if you want to order a small quantity to give out to friends, or family, then Lulu’s worth a try, and unless their quality has drastically declined in the time since I wrote that piece, you should be happy with the results.

If you’re looking to make a bit of money by perhaps purchasing a distribution package, I can’t really advise because that was something I never did. But my instinct tells me we indy authors shouldn’t expect miracles from it. Like other POD outfits they’re not there to make us famous – just sell copies – but I always found Lulu’s pricing to be transparent, so I knew what I was getting into, and there were no nasty surprises.

Why not try both? Lulu and e-publishing? I’ve not put my own poetry on Feedbooks yet, but I’m thinking about it. Again it’s absolutely free, and the download rates look quite good, so you can be sure of an audience for your work.

Don’t be fooled. I published a book, allowed lulu to sell it, and never saw a dime! They deleted my book files less than two weeks after uploading-yet they didn’t hesitate to keep my profits to the book sales! Crooks!

Hello, Michael,
I am going to try Lulu for my second self-published work. History is my hobby, so I have transcribed an 1890s journal from a school superintendent. If all goes well, I will be able to sell between 50 and 100 copies in the county were the superintedent served.
I published a book three years ago that consisted of a collection of newspaper articles written in 1921 and 1922 by the same gentleman. At the time I used Xlibris, and I learned a great deal about the way self-publishing really works. I paid about $700 to have my book published, and in the end I nearly recouped the money I paid for my hobby. So I was happy. Then I made the mistake of thinking my work would be more popular than it was, and I paid $300 dollars for an e-mail marketing campaign. Xlibris may have sold one or two copies, but according to their website they do not even send royalty checks until a nominal sum (something like $20) dollars is reached. No big deal. They continue to call me often with various marketing gimmicks which I now always decline. That is where self-publishing companies make their money; on all the little “extras” they have available.
I hope Lulu will be as dependable as you have said. Afterall, my objective is to personally buy enough printed copies of a piece of local history to sell at a local fair next summer. That is how I sold my first book, not counting the copies I gave away as gifts to friends and relatives. If you want your book to sell, you have to get out there and hawk it. As before, I will do all the editing, etc. on my book because I do not need, nor can I afford, to pay for such services. I cannot speak on the subject of aspiring novelists trying to self-publish, but I have read somewhere that about 98% of such authors only sell about 100 to 200 books. Many of the complaints about publishers I have read on-line are by people whose spelling and grammer is so bad there is little wonder their works do not sell. Some of the complaints against Lulu are a little scary, but I trust my experience with them will be as pleasant as yours has been.
Thanks for listening,
Rob

Thanks for the comment. This sounds like a very worthwhile project indeed, and I wish you well with it. I think it’s exactly the sort of thing Print on Demand is good at. Great use of the technology. You might have struggled to get a conventional publisher interested in this, and that school superintendent’s journal might have remained obscure – but as it is you’re hopefully bringing it to a wider audience of interested individuals in a local community. Bravo.

Hi Nancy,
Yes, I’m sure they publish photo books. You’d have to compile your pictures into the required format, then submit it like you would for text. Colour tends to be expensive I think. You can try it out, and get a price wihtout having to commit yourself.

Thanks Sun, you’ll only find a few of my books over at Lulu these days. I tend to self publish exclusively through Feedbooks now. The formatting is less onerous and the downloads are better. I still think Lulu’s good at what it does, but I feel the smart Indy author is moving away from paper now, and going exclusively digital.

I just published a book on LULU this month. I have a YouTube Channel and I make cooking videos. I have made exactly 100 video recipes and I made a cook book reflecting that.
The quality of my proof book is stunning, glossy and high quality.
However, Im not a big YouTube Channel so Im not expecting much sales but hopeful.
Im hoping to directly just sales to my Subscribers on my Channel.
Someone any advice on starting out on LULU?

Have you ever tried to delete a file from one of your projects on Lulu.com? Try it. You can’t. And, by agreeing to their terms of use, you have effectively given Lulu “first publisher rights”, meaning they are entitled to 15% of any sales of any work, anyplace, not just on Lulu, forever. Anyone thinking of using Lulu should have their lawyer read the terms before uploading anything to the Lulu.com repository. Oh, and by the way, there is no customer service, no direct email contact, no phone contact, no appeal to the methods used at Lulu.com The entire operation has been automated, computerized, Don’t believe it? Use their contact form and receive the automated reply, which states that if you need help not covered in the reply, to reply to the email, which you will wait days, weeks, months and never hear a word back. Lulu.com no longer cares about printing a good product. Their focus is on luring writers to supply content to which Lulu can claim the rights to.

Okay, checked that out now – haven’t used Lulu in such a while I’ve not been keeping up with issues. I was incorrect in saying I’d suspended my projects – I’d actually made them all private.

I’ve looked at the terms and conditions and I think the option you want is to “retire” your projects. Lulu’s T’s+C’s say that in the case of “retired” projects, files relating to paper books will be deleted automatically after a year. Files relating to e-books will also be deleted except for any versions you’ve sold. I guess these need to be retained for customers so they can get fresh copies if they accidentally lose/delete their originals – at least that’s my understanding – like when you buy an app from Google or Apple, if you trash your ‘phone, you don’t have to pay for that app again – you can download it for free.

Not sure I understand the first publisher rights thing. Lulu’s T’s+C’s say “Lulu does not retain any residual rights to deleted or retired Content”. This tell me that other than maintaining a repository of previously sold electronic work, they have nothing further to do with it once it’s retired.

It sounds like you’ve had a bad experience and that’s unfortunate. My impression of Lulu is that of a small outfit creaking under the strain of a big demand. My advice, if you’re worried, is just retire your stuff and delete your account.

Barbara.
Hi Micheal, I have been reading the comments of people and would like your advice please. I have written a short story a day for my little granddaughter. It is in manuscript form on my computer. I would love to get it printed for her as a gift for when she is being read bed time stories. Can you give me any advice on how I go about this? I live in Greece and have no connection to anyone who can help me.
Many thanks.

I think this is a really good idea, and something very special for your grand daugter to keep. Lulu is a good choice for this sort of thing. Your manuscript needs to be in Microsoft word format for uploading to their site, and it might be a good idea to create your own cover art for it if you can, or you can use Lulu’s range of designs if you’d prefer. The first stage is to get yourself a Lulu account and then look at their guides for formatting and so on, then just follow through the steps. With this project there’s no need to make anything public, which you’d need to do if you were making your book available to everyone.

There are various sizes and formats to choose from, also hard back, soft back, ring bound and so on. Simple black and white for the page texts is cheaper and recommended, unless you have colour illustrations. This might be sounding a bit complicated, but the step by step guides on Lulu makes it all quite straight forward and you can check the cost of your book in the various formats as you go along.

Once “published” you can then buy a copy of the book from Lulu.

I do hope this helps. Please come back to me if you need any other info, or email me direct. If anyone else here has experience of other Print on Demand services please post your thoughts for Barbara to be thinking about.

Hi Miguel, the honest answer to your question is “probably not”. I did manage to sell a few dozen copies of the novels I had on there, which was great, but you’re never going to make a living at it. To do that I think you still need to follow the traditional route of finding an agent and a traditional publishing house. And we all know how difficult that can be. Even there, as a first time author our earnings aren’t going to be terribly significant.

I think Lulu works best if you already have an audience for your work – say family or fellow club-members who might be interested in something you’ve written and only a paper book will do.

I must admit I’ve moved away from Lulu now, and prefer to write purely for ebook publication because the download rates are much higher. Again there’s no money in it. I give all my work away, in favour of a attracting a readership.

I have published several books on Lulu and I’ve always found it to be a great site and easy to use. I write and illustrate purely as a hobby and haven’t made a penny from any of my books, hence why I work full-time as a carer. I get the satisfaction of seeing my own work in print exactly how I want it to look. I think some people have unrealistic expectations of online publishers – I was like that way back in 2007.

Hi Micheal, great site and very informative. I had just signed a contract with Lulu, five weeks ago. I have already paid $ 1.800+ which is half of the total amount they were charging me to publish my book. Lulu sent me the submission form to fill in along with diagrams and questions about the different size’s of the book to choose. I could not understand. it and felt this was like DIY I tried to contact my consultant who would be with me whenever I needed her. On the first day I called to ask a question ? She was at a meeting, next day I called again.( Not in ) Left a message. Next day. Not in. Eventually, I left a msg stating my frustration about not getting any feedback from her and I was going to cancel my order- and to send back my manuscript to me. Only then did I receive a call back from my assigned consultant leaving me a message stating that she was on vacation , but her assistant had told me two days before-she was at a meeting? Upon. reading all the scary stories about Lulu, and other publishers charging surmountable fees. Now I am not sure what to do. This is my first book. Any ideas would be helpful. Thank you, Micheal.

That’s a lot of money, Agnes and you should be getting better service. You’ve been seriously let down. It’s a while since I used Lulu, and then only their free stuff – just paid to get print copies of my books and they were all okay. Now I’ve gone totally electronic – cut out the paper and prefer to give my work away on Feedbooks and Smashwords. I think I’d be demanding my money back at this point, looking to cut my losses and maybe threatening them with a twitterstorm if they don’t shape up. I know it’s too late now and not much comfort for you at this stage but I’d advise all aspiring writers that they should never pay a publisher anything at all. Publishers pay writers.